Track Listing

1. The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You) - Nat King Cole
2. Baby, It's Cold Outside - Dean Martin
3. Winter Wonderland - Bing Crosby
4. The Christmas Waltz - Nancy Wilson
5. I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm - Les Brown And His Band of Renown
6. The Merriest - June Christy
7. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Lou Rawls
8. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! - Lena Horne
9. (Everybody's Waitin' For) The Man With The Bag - Kay Starr
10. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town - Johnny Mercer With The Pied Pipers
11. Happy Holiday - Peggy Lee
12. Sleigh Ride - Ferrante & Teicher
13. I'd Like You For Christmas - Julie London
14. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear - Ella Fitzgerald
15. All I Want For Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth) - The Nat King Cole Trio
16. Auld Lang Syne - Guy Lombardo And His Royal Canadians

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17532 in Music
• Released on: 2004-10-05
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Amazon.com
Travel back in time with the big bands and singers of an era some 50 years in the past. On Christmas Classics, Les Brown and His Band of Renown, Johnny Mercer with the Pied Pipers, Kay Starr (making sure you know that "Everybody's Waitin' for the Man with the Bag"), Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, and others recall a place and time that lives on in the Christmases of the 21st century. While there's a comforting quaintness to Ferrante & Teicher's instrumental of "Sleigh Ride" and a campy breathlessness in Julie London's "I'd Like You for Christmas," this is an album you can use to introduce the grandkids to a more innocent and sentimental age. Besides, if you can't appreciate Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians' "Auld Lang Syne," you're probably being haunted by the Ghost of Christmas Present big time. --Martin Keller

Customer Reviews

Reissue of an 1992 CD
In 1992 I found this great Christmas album from Capitol called "Let It Snow!" Every time the holiday rolls around this CD finds it way out of the closet and friends ask "Where did you get this?" Sadly this CD went out of print along with its companions "Merry Christams, Baby" and "Christmas Kisses".

"Christmas Classics" contains some of the best tracks from "Let It Snow!" and eliminates some of the more charming yet annonying tracks. You just can't beat Leana Horne's version of the title track with the swingin' conducting by Jack Parnell. The album swings and bops its way all through the season. Nostalgic and fun.

Remastered Warmth
This 2004 remastering of the original recordings brings a pristine presence and freshness to these favorites. Bing's rendition of "Let it Snow," for instance, looses the crude, "sproingy" sounding reverb that has been applied to it by various sound engineers over the years. Instead, you hear Bing himself with a very natural sounding voice, as if he were standing in your living room, and not in a cave.

and 1/2 stars...A Holiday Album Filled with Charm & Nostalgia
Looking for a holiday album to recall the memories of Christmases past? Then CHRISTMAS CLASSICS is a near perfect collection. These are songs that will take you back to your childhood. The most recent song is 1968's "The Christmas Waltz" by Nancy Wilson, and the earliest song is 1947's "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" by Johnny Mercer. In addition, there are classics like Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song," Ella Fitzgerald's stately "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" and Lena Horne's festive "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" So throw another log on the fire, pour yourself a cup of egg nog, and enjoy...Merry Christmas! [Running Time - 42:06] HIGHLY RECOMMENDED